Page 8 of Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane

She turned her face so her lips brushed my hair. “Yeah?”

I swallowed over a lump in my throat. “I got in. To Adventure Italy…I got in.”

Mom jumped back, making the quilt fall from her shoulder. “Oh my gosh, Gianna!” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me tightly. “I knew you could do it. I knew you’d get in! What a wonderful early Christmas present!” She kissed both of my cheeks.

I looked down at my tea. “Is it, though?”

Mom touched my cheek. “What do you mean?”

The wind moved the chimes on our porch into their low bell tones and rattled some of the icicle lights against the gutter.

“How can I think about leaving after…” I paused and sniffed, my eyes now burning. “After everything that happened with Mr. Paxton? What’s going to happen to everyone if I just disappear, and we lose The Market—”

“Gianna.” Mom laid her hand on mine. “That’s not for you to worry about.”

I wiped my eyes. “What kind of person just runs off to Italy while half the people in her hometown, including some of her own family, could lose everything? Who’s going to make sure things don’t fall apart?”

“No one has lost anything yet. And besides, this town was taking care of itself long before you started offering to help everyone.” Mom scooted in closer and wrapped herself in the quilt again. “It’s officially Christmas season, honey. Know what that means?”

The absolute worst time for this kind of thing to happen?

“It’s the best time of year to have hope and take big risks.” She nudged me.

I took another sip of my tea before setting it down and resting my head on Mom’s shoulder again.

I wanted to believe her.

To celebrate this big win for me.

But for the first time in my life, I wasn’t so sure that Christmas could fix all of my problems.

Chapter Three

“Am I just eating because I’m bored?”

—How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Everyone moved slowly Monday morning after the unexpected passing of Mr. Paxton. I always assumed he had family out of town or that maybe he visited for the holidays, but apparently, Arthur Paxton had been completely alone. Never married. No siblings. And both parents had already passed.

My family was often the definition of suffocating, but I couldn’t imagine not having them.

Who had he opened presents with on Christmas Day?

Who had called him for his birthday?

Would I be lonely like that when I was overseas for a few months?

And what would everyone think of me if I just up and left?

“G?” My best friend Jo tapped my desk with her pencil during second period. She wore one of her many Christmas bandannas—this one was red with green and white snowflakes—tied over her honey-blond hair, which spilled into the hood of her Stranger Things sweatshirt. “You okay? Seemed like we lost you for a sec there.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose before forcing a smile. “Yeah, I’m good. Just…a lot on my mind.”

“Same.” Jo leaned back in her chair and sighed. “My dads were saying that Mr. Paxton owed a lot in taxes on The Market, and they didn’t know how that would be handled now that he’s…”

Gone.

I opened my latest article about the new food company our school had outsourced to. The quality of the food wasn’t bad, but their servings were half of what we used to get, and at double the cost. I’d probably get an earful from our assistant principal, who was our school paper’s sponsor, but news was news.